Resurrection of Jesus (Luke 24:1-35)
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Remembering Jesus (vv1-12)
Just as the women were the last to leave the cross, so also they were the first to arrive at the tomb. After a long sorrow-filled weekend, they came depressed and exhausted to the tomb, only to have even more bitter grief and sorrow added to them when they found that Jesus’ body was not there. Because they had no expectation that Christ would rise from the dead, they fully expected to find his body there. However, God knew that these women would be in the wrong place that morning (among the dead when Christ was alive!), and in His kindness He meets them through His messengers to redirect them toward Christ. The angels call their attention back to Jesus’ words assuring them that He has risen exactly as He said He would. The women remembered that Jesus had spoken these things and believed, and they went to tell the apostles.
– The women had not remembered the words of Jesus, and therefore were not expecting Him to have risen from the grave. What relationship is there between hope and remembrance? What is the relationship between remembrance, belief, and evangelism?
Revealing Jesus (vv13-27)
As two of the lesser known disciples, Cleopas and his companion, traveled to Emmaus Jesus met with them, though they failed to recognize Him. Their journey so far had been marked by sadness because they could not understanding how it could be that the Lord would allow Himself to be arrested and crucified. Yet the deep disillusionment and sadness proves their failure to have faith in the words that Jesus had spoken. Ironically, in their astonishment at Jesus’ question as to what they were talking about, they fail to realize that in reality Christ knew perfectly well what had happened in Jerusalem!
They were foolish, not merely for rejecting the testimony of the women, but for not believing the testimony of the prophets (verse 25). Notice that Christ didn’t reprimand them for not believing what the prophets had spoken, but for not believing all that the prophets had spoken. They had ignored the portions of Scripture that promised the Messiah’s suffering and the concept they had of a Savior was based on a selective reading of the Bible. The entire Bible, Old Testament included, is about Jesus, meaning that every part finds its meaning and purpose within its relation to the person and work of Christ. Yet despite their selective hearing and unbelief, we see Christ’s kindness clearly displayed in meeting with these disheartened and downcast disciples and explaining the Scriptures to them.
– What examples does the New Testament give us of ways that the Old Testament points to Jesus?
Recognizing Jesus (vv28-35)
When the two disciples recognized that it was Jesus who had been speaking with them, the dark, dangerous travel from which they had discouraged Jesus no longer mattered to them. Once in Jerusalem, they began to share with them that Jesus really was risen and that He had appeared to Simon—the same Simon that had denied Him three times was the first apostle to whom Jesus revealed Himself. This is evidence once again that Christ receives back those who are repentant and He restores them to usefulness. Jesus then appeared to the eleven and the others that were with them, and they recognized that it was Him when he broke the bread and blessed it, just as He had done when He fed the 5,000 or when He shared the Lord’s Supper with them.
– After realizing that they had just been with Jesus, the two disciples did not hesitate to make the dangerous trip to Jerusalem. What is the relationship between confidence in Christ’s resurrection and boldness in evangelism?